Is the World Really More Violent Today? (page 4)

RAF

more people (in the world) more of everything (related to people) is possible by then

jaguarbass

proplog2

nice cut and paste,very creative, where did you get that idea from?

Didnt it have any paragraphs when you were copying it?

freeme

mho: humans always think the present is the most difficult time to deal with in mankinds history. the future is imagined even more terrible.

nothing changed. there were always times "hard to deal with". the only thing that changed is todays comfort in the western world and the level of technology.

I was just telling my sister in law that I think it's silly when people yearn for "the good old days". In times past women were lucky if they did not die in childbirth. Children were lucky if they lived past the age of 5. If you lived till adulthood, you were old at 30 and lucky to live till 50. And the life the average person led was frought wih the fear of disease and doing hard labor just to survive. Give me progress any day.

changeling

nvrgnbk

Anyone remember the scripture in the Bible that tells us not to yearn for the "good old days"? I believe it is attributed to Solomon. Ironic that that's in the Bible, huh?

coaster

No and is would be hard to argue differently. Governments are far more orginized to protect the masses. Old accepted rules of war were to kill all civilians desired, rape at will, and enslave whomever. Politcal correctness is in war BIGTIME. Look at Iraq. No Dresden carpet bombing there. Great pains are taken to AVOID civilian casualties.

And what a difference in entertainment regarding violence! We have WWF, Video games, tv, and movies. Romans for sport watched PEOPLE BEING EATEN ALIVE!!!!! ANYONE SEEN THAT LATELY? How about PEOPLE HACKING other PEOPLE to death for sport??????

There is no comparison.

what the hell!!....coaster

nvrgnbk

Great reply, coaster.

Proplog2. What you have there seems most interesting and worthwhile, but it's really hard to read without paragraphs.

WTWizard

You want violence, war, crime, pestilence, and poverty on a widespread basis? Then the Dark Ages are for you. That was the period where a few people dominated everyone else to an unprecedented extent, causing the same crime problem we see today. And you didn't just lock the door: you had a heavy gate that was bolted, double and triple walls, moats, and still people broke in and stole, killed, and kidnapped.

When people think of today's crime problem, they compare it to the period from the 1930s through the 1950s when crime was declining. During that period, people often left their doors unlocked without any problem, even in the city. We are only seeing a return to the conditions that are more normal.

There was also plenty of violence in the 19th century. Remember the shootouts in the Wild West? I do think that was pretty violent, and there was a good chance that, if you were standing in the wrong place, that you could easily have been shot then as now. And there was no law, so you couldn't dial 911 when you saw shootings. That led to more of them.

There are a number of factors that contribute to this. When you have regulations that stifle people, they cannot get ahead. Many get jealous and rob their neighbors. Others need a break from stagnation, turn to drugs and alcohol, and then need to burgle a house to get another fix (partly because prices are inflated due to the risk premium from getting caught). Riots are more common when the people are oppressed. And some people shoot each other just for kicks when they become stagnant enough.

The flip side is, if people are free, they have few or no obstacles from building a fulfilling business. They work hard on finding answers to life's problems, developing them, and bringing them to the market. Prices get driven down, people get rich without a lot of tedious work, and no one has to be left out. There is no need to burgle a house, since it becomes easier to get rich the honest way than to steal. And people get their kicks from finding new ways to solve real problems, thus eliminating the need for drugs and petty crimes. And violence goes down.

As for the Watchtower Society, I think it's blatantly obvious which side they are on. They feed on oppression, because that causes the spike in crime and violence that feeds their prophecy. They also create a lot of oppression (thus precluding them as a possible solution). I wonder what would happen if a major government would eliminate all regulations and allow the free market to rule (including getting rid of those big boxes that sell crap at "low" prices by having the free market produce better products at the same prices). I bet that we would be seeing declining violence and crime. Then the Tower would have to pull out that "Peace and Security" card.

nvrgnbk

You want violence, war, crime, pestilence, and poverty on a widespread basis? Then the Dark Ages are for you.

Too funny, OUTLAW and CoCo!

brinjen

Overall, no. I think we are just more aware of it through the media and our ever faithful (cough) politicians. The world has always been a violent place, nothing has changed.

Is the World Really More Violent Today?

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